WARRIORS coach Michael Nees has warned against complacency and getting carried away by the back-to-back wins over Namibia that left Zimbabwe needing just a point to seal their ticket to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals.
Zimbabwe completed a double over their southern Africa counterpart in the two teams’ Afcon Group J duels, edging the Brave Warriors 1-0 last Thursday before a convincing 3-1 win on Monday in matches played at the Orlando Stadium in South Africa.
Khama Billiat scored the only goal of the Thursday match, while Walter Musona (brace) and Prince Dube were on the scoresheet on Monday.
The two victories took Zimbabwe to eight points, two behind already qualified Cameroon, while Kenya and Namibia are on four and zero points, respectively, with two rounds of matches remaining.
Nees’ men, who will play Kenya and Cameroon in the last two qualifiers, can clinch the remaining ticket in the group if they avoid a defeat against the Harambe Stars at home next month.
Kenya conclude their campaign with a home match against already eliminated Namibia.
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The last two qualifiers will be played in the November 11 to 19 international window.
While Zimbabwe have their fate firmly in their own hands, Nees warned the ticket could still slip through the fingers if the team loses focus.
“Even if we had lost the last game against Namibia, fate would still be in our own hands, but we wanted to be in a good position. I am glad we achieved that. But nothing is won yet and I just want everybody to remain calm and focused,” he said.
“Of course, we can be happy and excited for now but there are still six points to play for. You don’t know how Namibia will regroup after this, also having lost their number 10 (Prins Tjiueza).
“He got a hard tackle and got injured. We hope it is nothing serious. We also got an injury (Brendan Galloway), so I hope both players will recover very quickly. It’s never nice when a player from the opponent or your team gets injured.”
Under Nees, the Warriors are unbeaten in four matches winning two and playing draws against Cameroon and Kenya.
The German is happy with how his team is shaping up, although he feels it has not reached the levels he wants it to be.
“The national team must have 20 to 30 good players, that is my target. My target is to have two or three quality players on each position so that when something happens, we can substitute. We need many players in each position and it is good for competition,” the German said.
“The players are adapting to the technical strategy, but we are definitely not there yet. We have to find a good strategy for each game and see which personality fits best. Sometimes I’m right, but sometimes I’m wrong (in team selection), so if I have good players I can be able to change.”
Zimbabwe’s impressive start to their Afcon qualification campaign has been anchored on a solid defence, which has given away very little so far.
Goalkeeper Washington Arubi has conceded once in four matches, scored by Namibia in injury time after a blunder by central defender Gerald Takwara.
Nees paid tribute to the fans who thronged Orlando Stadium, the first time in the campaign that the Warriors played in front of their “home” supporters.
“It was nice to play in front of the crowd. I don’t know how many they were, but the noise was definitely more than the numbers,” he said.
Zimbabwe and Namibia used the Orlando Stadium for their home matches as they both do not have Caf-approved stadiums in their respective countries.